Like Father Unlike Son
by sintenigious
Summary: This is a story about how a young Naruto becomes the most powerful ninja in the world. No ultimate bloodline or time travel, just guidance from Naruto's parents. Minato, Kushina and Uchiha Clan alive. Rated M because of violence. First two chapters are just setting the scene for a world with Naruto's parents.
1. Chapter 1

Like Father Unlike Son

For those of you wondering, this fic is about how Naruto comes to power through normal circumstances because he has the support of his parents. Naruto is not godlike, he is just strong.

First two chapters is just setting the scene for a world where Minato and Kushina lived. Then we start the story of a young Naruto becoming the most powerful ninja in the world.

Chapter 1: The yondaime hokage.

Minato stood on-top of his face on the hokage mountain as the bitter wind came in. He could hear the great drums howling in his ear. The kyubi had settled down, after Minato had released it from the masked guy's control. The wind frolicked with his hair as he thought about a plan. Then he formed a seal with one hand and appeared on the other side of the village.

The jonin that had been 'restraining' the tailed beast backed away at the sight of the yondaime hokage. They were now about 50 metres away. Although it was dark, he was tall and his blonde hair stood out more than the ugly duckling.

"Yondaime-sama what should we do?" a familiar jonin enquired as they back away from the calm kyubi "it looks like he is resting."

The 4th hokage made a gesture with one hand and all of the other jonin vanished following his order. All of them except one. The yellow flash twisted his head at a 45 degree angle to his right, indicating his knowledge of the jonin's presence.

"Lord-hokage. Is it really safe to go in alone. All of us tried at once and were still defeated," a concerned jonin said. His hair shined red in the presence of the little moonlight they had.

The 4th hokage didn't answer however. Instead he just vanished in thin air, not even the jonin could assess how he vanished.

The kyubi's head rested on his arms in his usual relaxing manner, his ear twitched as the 4th hokage appeared right infront of him. "I guess I should thank you for releasing me from the masked man's control. Then again I wouldn't want to get too hasty, especially since some of your ninja tried to 'hurt' me," the kyubi spoke in its dark, demonic tone.

Around the kyubi was an air of destruction. Many buildings had alreadg been destroyed and many ninja had already lost their lives. However only a small portion of Konoha had suffered from damage. If the fighting continued, this day would be remembered in history for many centuries to come as the day Konoha was brought down - October the 10th.

"I'm sorry that my ninja tried to hurt you. However you are lucky, if I had gotten here a little later - an all out attack on you would have already been unleashed. Then even I wouldn't have been able to stop the will of my underlings. I must tell you though that you must be sealed again. Not Kushina, however, she is too weak right now," Minato's velvet voice relaxed the kyubi further.

"Its a shame, I quite like her. However I didn't like the seal put on her, it kept me in the most uncomfortable position. What makes you think that I will be sealed into another human willingly. For all I know, you guys will just imprison me into the human forever, cutting off my bonds to the world along with the human as traditions predict," the kyubi answered. It had finally opened his eyes and was looking directly into the pupils of the yondaime.

"I promise, this time, that the human will not be cut off to the rest of the world. He will be allowed to speak, to travel and to become anything he wants to. I understand what you have suffered in the past and you have my sincerest apologies," the yondaime replied back, the kyubi could swear he had love hearts in his eyes.

"Stop with all of the polite, human talk. I am not one of your noble humans who will be persuaded with sophisticated language. Onto the point however, how can I trust that the human will not be neglected in the future," the kyubi answered back. He was unsureof the feelings he was going through. Someone was being nice to him.

"You can trust me because I am going to seal you into my son," the yondaime answered "he is an uzumaki so he meets the limits, he is young so he is compatible with the change and he is my son so I truly care for him."

The kyubi looked at him with new eyes. Could he really trust a human, especially a blonde one. "Fine, I will agree on one condition," the kyubi started, mischief in the air "I get to choose what my "new home" looks like."

The yondaime smiled, was this not easier? He couldn't imagine the horror of coming late. Then all of the jonin would've attacked and it would have been chaos. Each jonin fighting for his lost brother and the kyubi fighting for the harm caused to it. Countless numbers of people would've died.

Minato wasn't one to waste time so he summoned the sealing altar and hirashined back with his newborn baby. His baby slept in an everdream, still so innocent and naive. The baby had no idea of the responsibility and power that was going to be bestowed upon him.

"He's cute. What is his name?" the Kyubi enquired about his new host as the yondaime made the preparations. No one else was here to witness the event, as everyone had run in fear.

"His name you ask," the yondaime hokage started "his name is Uzumaki Naruto."

I I I

7 months in the future, just before dinner.

I I I

Kushina looked at Minato, she was furious. Currently, she was in the kitchen with an apron on, she held a wooden spoon in her right hand and slammed it on her left palm in perfect rhythm. She acted like it was her weapon of choice if a fight should break out but Minato knew that she was wearing her tool pouch. Sometime he wondered about women in general and sometimes he just wondered about Kushina.

"This weekend, I am going on a vacation to the hotsprings with Mikoto and there is nothing you can do about it. You know how hard it is being a ninja mother, even Mikoto resigned. Listen Fugaku is taking care of Sasuke and you are going to take care of Naruto. End of story," Kushina said, her fiery red hair shined in the artificial light.

"I am not saying that you shouldn't go. All I'm saying is that we should leave Naruto with Fugaku and Sasuke because I have been called for a 5-kage summit," Minato said, he really loved Kushina and knew that ultimately whatever Kushina said went.

"No. Naruto already spends enough time with Sasuke, Mikoto is my best friend. Besides I have a motherly instinct that this weekend is going to be great for you two. You guys need a little father-son bonding. I mean you only read to him for an hour last night. So either you take Naruto, or you don't go," Kushina stated. She loved Minato but sometimes she had to put her foot down and be a mother, following her instincts.

"Ok, Kushina, I'll take him," Minato said, already thinking about the consequences of taking a baby to a 5 kage summit. Then not too long after, they heard a cry from the living room so the both of them found the source of noise.

It seemed Naruto had stumbled upon a toy Uchiha Madara and had started crying. Slowly Minato threw the toy away and picked up Naruto, bringing him closer to his chest. He blew a rasberry into Naruto's stomach which made both of them laugh. The wide living room's light seemed to be concentrated on their little moment.

Then Kushina went to go get a camera saying "Theres my two favourite blondies." When Kushina came back with the camera Minato brought Naruto's face up to his and smiled as widely as he could. There was no way he would ever let Naruto be harmed.

I I I

The next weekend.

I I I

The yondaime prepared to hirashin to the 5 kage summit, along with his two selected guardians - Jiraiya and Kakashi. He finished putting his arm through his yondaime hokage cloak, before looking at Kakashi and Jiraiya.

Kakashi was currently dressed in his anbu gear, even wearing his mask while Jiraiya was wearing his get-up from the war. "Hokage-sama, why has the kage summit been called up and by who?" the sharingan anbu asked. He called Minato sensei-hokage sama because there were still a few root anbu around.

"Its been called upon by the sandaime raikage, it seems he wants to discuss something about the biju. I also want to discuss the events surrounding the masked-man," the yondaime started "and Kakashi, could you please do me a favour."

The root anbu hiding in the vents nearly choked on the mention of the name. Kakashi really was one of the strongest people in konoha, currently he was raned the eigth most powerful ninja in Konoha - after the yondaime, sandaime, Danzo-sama, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kushina, Fugaku and Hiashi (in no particular order). This boy was still only a teenager.

"What is the favour Minato-sensei," Kakashi replied knowing that there was no point in hiding his identity. His anbu senses told him that the anbu in the vents were squirming.

"I need you to take care of Naruto once the summit commences," Minato replied back looking at the baby resting on his chest with his arms wrapped around Naruto's back "He is going to be your student anyway."

Kakashi looked at the yondaime's son. He had been with Naruto for the 9 months he was in Kushina's stomach, secretly as an anbu. He had been ordered to by Minato to keep Kushina safe. Naruto was extremely important to him and he was going to make sure that the boy grew up even stronger than his father.

"Hai," Minato-sensei," Kakashi said. All the while Jiraiya just gave his student a blank look. He was the one who had named the boy, he was his godfather and he should've gotten the opportunity to take care of the boy.

"Don't worry Jiraiya-sensei, you'll get time later. I just think that right now it is the appropriate time to have some student teacher bonding," Minato reassured Jiraiya. Jiraiya just laughed at his statement, knowing full-well what Minato meant. Kakashi was going to have his hands full.

I I I

In the kage summit.

I I I

The land of iron was unbelievably cold on the day of the summit, the country had been torn apart by an everstorm. The countries rough geographical areas was the main reason for why the sandaime raikage had chosen this place, in addition to it being a formal meetimg place.

If an all out fight were to break out, Kumo would have the advantage as it knew the terrain best. However what the sandaime couldn't account for was the strength of Namikaze Minato - the most powerful ninja alive.

Mifune stood in place - guarded by two samurai - awaiting the kage's arrival. He sensed something special, as a huge gust on indoor wind blew across them. Then, out of nowhere, the yondaime hokage appeared with his back facing the samurai.

The yondaime's cloak drifted, as if Minato had jumped 2 kilometres. Behind the hokage, two bodyguards stood lookdd directly at Mifune and the others. One of them had an anbu mask on and if you looked really hard, you could see one of his blood red eyes.

The other was less secretive, as everyone knew him as Jiraiya the gallant, of the sannin. Mifune guessed it was no surprise that the hokage was the first to arrive, especially since he could use teleportation techniques.

Then Mifune's jaw dropped as the 4th turned to face him. It appeared that they had a 4th member in their party - a small blonde baby. The baby winged in his father's arms as he felt the eyes on him.

"I see you have brought a 4th member along to the summit," Mifune started, his eyes half open as if he had rehearsed the line a billion times "we had agreed of a maximum of 3." Mifune concentrated on the yondaime hokage. He didn't want a fight to break out so early, knowing full well that the sandaime raikage would rage.

"I'm sorry mifune. You know Kushina, she wouldn't let me leave him with someone else. She said that she had a motherly instinct and I can't argue with that," the yondaime replied, his face curved into a smile. Then his smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of seriousness "I am sure you understand."

A long silence came after the hokage spoke. You vould tell that Mifune was thinking.

"Okay, I guess its ok. As long as the baby remains hidden," Mifune resolved "you know the raikage." The samurai standing next to him acted upon signal and lead the party towards the meeting room.

All the while, Mifune stared at Minato's back. The hokage was truly the most powerful man alive. However there was something else that surrounded the man like a charm. Maybe it was his kindness but Mifune didn't know.

The rest of the kage arrived later with the raikage arriving second, Tsuchikage third, Kazekage fourth and the mizukage last.

The raikage had his son - Ay - with him and the current 8 tails junchuriki - Fukai.

Onoki came with hamura of the flesh (Earth+Wind) and Deidara.

The yondaime kazekage came with Pakura of the scorch and Baki

Finally Yagura came with Mei terumi and one of the village elders, which may have been the reason of why it took them so long.

Later that evening after everything was settled, the kage summit had begun.

"As you all know, 7 months ago the kyubi went on a rampage in Konoha. Now, the hokage managed to stop the kyubi before many casualties occured and not much damage was done. This was not the case 10 years ago when the hachibi was released onto kumogakure or when 9 years ago the sanbi rampaged in kirigakure. Which is why I am proposing that we use all of our power as kage and kill the beasts once and for all. The hokage has already proven that he has the power to subdue the kyubi, strongest of the beasts. Together we can kill it," the raikage announced. His fists were rock hard on the table and his face was lost in an ever gaze.

"Nonsense," Onoki yelled " the tailed beasts are what keep balance in the world. There is a reason why our forefathers split them up. I am probably the only one here who knew the founding leaders of the villages and they were much wiser than us. The shodai hokage subdued all of the tailed beasts by himself. There is a reason he didn't kill them right then and there."

"Not to mention the fact that we don't even know if we can kill them. The sage of six paths, the creator of ninjutsu, split them up. Even he didn't kill the tailed beasts. I think they serve a far greater purpose than what we know of," the yondaime kazekage finished. His arms were folded into a cross infront of his chest. He was currently thinking of his son.

Minato knew that the kazekage had also sealed the village's tailed beast into his own son - Gaara. Gaara was a nice name, he hoped that Naruto and Gaara would become good friends like the yondaime hokage and the yondaime kazekage were. Not to mention the fact that Gaara was a few months older than Naruto just like the kazekage and hokage.

"I have to say that I agree with the raikage," was all Yagura said. No one knew that he was being manipulated by the masked man, who was disguised.

"Our fore-fathers made a mistake. Right now we have a chance to fix it and you guys raise the towel. This may be the only opportunity we ever get to kill the beasts, now that we have come out of the third shinobi war and are in peace. Otherwise we are afraid that if we kill our strongest military weapon another country will attack. Now is the time to kill them together. What do you say Hokage?" the raikage finished. He didn't have any idea of what the masked man had planned if they brought the tailed beasts together.

Its was obvious to everyone now that the hokage had the deciding vote so they all had their eyes fixated on him.

"I would like to believe that our fore-fathers did not make a mistake. We have to think of the next generation and what we are creating for them when we make decisions. I don't think that the tailed beats should be used as military weapons but I do not feel that they should be neglected either. I have to agree with the kazekage and tsuchikage. We can't take the risk of unleashing the tailed beasts thinking we can take them on," the 4th hokage said thinking of Naruto "besides there is a bigger point I want to raise. Its about the kyubi attack."

The room fell silent at the mention of the kyubi. They feared it as the most powerful tailed beast. The room was like a picture frozen in time.

"The details are fuzzy however there was someone behind the kyubi attack. He wore a mask at the time but I have reason to believe that he is Madara. Especially since his sharingan was so powerful, it could control the kyubi," the yondaime hokage stated "I wanted to warn you about him."

The raikage stared at Minato, still angry because the blonde had refused his proposal. However he couldn't ignore Madara's name. Madara had been rumored to have been as strong as the shodai hokage, who could have taken on the other 4 kage and won. This was a matter of utmost importance.

"What did you want to accomplish by warning us? What do you want us to do?" the raikage asked rudly. He thought he was the strongest in the room.

"I just want you to be prepared for anything," the yondaime answered "he came after the kyubi, which means he could come after the other tailed beasts."

The room fell silent as they looked at the possibilities of their tailed beasts being released. Mifune was also taking in the information. Even though the Land of Iron didn't have a tailed beast, it would still be catastrophic for them if the tailed beasts were released. It would be catastrophic for the whole world.

Meanwhile, Tobi was in his village elder disguise. He looked at the yondaime hokage with frustration. He wouldn't be able to go tailed beast hunting soon but that was ok. Tobi was a patient man and from under his disguise, he smiled. He would make sure that when noise about him did clear, he would go after the hokage's son first.

I I I

The End

Short chapter to start off, future chapters will be about 4500-6000 words. About my other story - Manipulating Time Again - its chapters havent come out for about 2 weeks and the next chapter wont come out for another week or so because...

...

...Ive had to make a *minor* tweak to my chapters on that story.

Anyway thanks for reading


	2. Chapter 2

Like Father Unlike Son

Chapter 2: Uzumaki Naruto and His New Team

I I I

The Day before the academy graduation

I I I

The sun drifted across the village of Konoha as the academy had its unofficial graduation ceremony. The students sat ontop of the hokage tower facing the hokage mountain and their grade's teacher - Iruka. The golden light illuminated the hokage faces.

"Ok class. To congratulate you for doing so well in the exams we have a very special reward planned for you," Iruka announced clearly. This class had been his pride and joy, especially since it had so many bloodlines and clan members in it. Usually only 3 or 4 ninja each year would go onto becoming actual ninja, while the others left either because they were too weak or they died.

However he thought that atleast 9 of his graduating class would go onto becoming spectacular ninja. He had been trusted by the hokage to teach this promising hopefuls and he had done his best.

"Hey sensei, whats our reward. Is it our forehead protector," an eager and loud blonde yelled from within the class of 30. The blonde wore a miniature black jonin jumpsuit that his mother had gotten for him. "He looks so cute with it on, like my very own ninja," Iruka remembered the red haired woman saying.

Ontop of his 'jonin' jumpsuit, the boy wore a cloak much like his fathers except smaller and with orange flames that went with the child's eyes. The kid had got his father's looks but his mother's personality.

"As you know, we are going to give out the forehead protectors tommorow, with your grades," Iruka answered even though the boy hadn't put his hand up "your reward today, is a very special guest speaker."

Then everyone watched in awe as the real yondaime hokage appeared out of thin air. All of the girls squealed while the boys oooh'd. Well all of the boys except one.

"Great, so by passing all we get is another boring lecture from him," the blonde boy said. His classmates had twisted and turned to look at him. How could he be so disrespectful to the yondaime hokage - the hero of the village.

"Now, I know thats what you're thinking but I don't intend to lecture you. All I want to do is offer some words of advice and congratulations. I know you guys will go onto to do fantastic things in the future," the yondaime said. It was wierd because their hokage stood so strong and firm yet he let the wind play with his hair and cloak.

"The teacher of my teacher had once told me this poem when I was very young. Now I do not want you to memorise it or understand what it means but I do hope that one day when you are older, you'll find out," Minato said remembering the sandaime's words.

Meanwhile the blonde child turned and whispered to his friend "Not this again. I've heard it a billion times, its so confusing and boring." Inzuka Kiba, the boy next to him, loved Naruto as one of his greatest friends. However he also wanted to grow up to become like the yondaime hokage and thus tried to listen to the poem while Naruto talked.

The girls infront of them turned to see who was making the ruckus and sighed when they saw the blonde boy. It was just him trying to stir up trouble again. Although they didn't dislike Naruto they didn't like him either because he would always get in the way of them and Uchiha Sasuke.

Then they got a glimpse of the uchiha boy sitting next to the uzumaki and quitely squeeled in their minds. Uchiha Sasuke was so cute. Then when the girls heard the voice of the yondaime hokage stop, they turned back to look at him.

Minato just sighed at the blonde boy. The child in himself was a distraction. He had been told by Iruka that Naruto was 'cool' when the yondaime wasn't around and that something about Minato brought out the loud side of the boy.

Still he couldn't have asked for a better boy, especially since the boy was a perfect mix of him and Kushina. The thought of Kushina reminded him of the time and when he had to get home so he began to wrap his 'lecture' up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto make a silly face at the hokage.

I I I

The next day before the graduation ceremony

I I I

Minato and Kushina walked their child across the village to the academy. Since it was about 10:00 am in the morning, there weren't many people on the streets. All of them were either in their shops or homes.

However the few people they passed nodded and smiled at the family. All the while Minato prepared to 'converse' with the parents of the other children. It was hard being a father initself but by being a father and the hokage was even harder.

Since Naruto's grade was heavily composed of Konoha's clans, most of the fathers were ninja. Minato was their boss, in a way an it was hard fitting in with the people that work for you.

For example, just the other day, Minato had come to the group party the parents had held. Yesterday Choza akimichi had told him he was sick and couldn't go on any missions the next day. Minato, however, had found Choza studding his mouth with cake at the party. It had been very awkward indeed.

Minato had tried to keep his father life and wirk different but it always seemed to collide. As for Kushina, she was the Queen Bee of the moms. First of all, she always seemed to know all the latest gossip about actors since her husband was the one sending ninja to protect them.

All of the moms loved Kushina and she loved all of them. Even though she was a higher ranked ninja than some of the others - like Haruno Mebuki - they were still great friends. Not to mention that Kushina took every opportunity to complain about Minato's work and praise Naruto's cuteness.

Finally they reached the academy ground where some parents were also standing there with their child. Kushina lowered herself so she was the same height as Naruto and said "Its ok Naruto. You can go play with your friends if you want to now," in an amazingly motherly tone. After that slice of information Naruto rushed towards his friends with speeds to match his fathers.

Kushina split away from Minato giving him a quick peck on the lips andwalked towards her friends which included Mebuki and Mikoto. Which left Minato to walk towards the ninja fathers.

"Yondaime-sama, we were just discussing our days at the academy and the relations with Kumogakure," Hizashi told Minato as he approached "Are you excited to see your son graduate from the academy?"

"It doesn't seem too long ago, we were graduating from the academy," Shukaku added "and now our own kids are doing it. Its just like sandaime-sama said. It seems the next generation is taking over."

Minato reminded himself of what he was working towards - a better world for his son to grow up in. "Well as far as relations with kumogakure go, we're in a good position. In fact, we are going to propose an alliance this week, which would mean that we would be allied with all of the other great nations. As for how I feel about Naruto graduating, I'm excited indeed. Besides you can call me Minato when we're together as do you guys feel?" Minato said in his elegant velvet voice.

"Its not so much about them graduating as it is their grades," Fugaku replied thinking about Itachi and Shisui. Fugaku needed his child to be ontop.

"Ahhh Fugaku, you shouldn't be too hard on your children. Especially remembering you also used to come second," Inoichi said back remembering a moment at a party where Fugaku had ignored Sasuke.

"Not to mention that we were the clan prodigies that were pampered and we were still beaten by a war orphan," Hiashi added not meaning to offend Minato.

"Ahh but that war orphan turned out to become the strongest ninja in the world," Kisazhi Haruno added. Even he was a war orphan, the difference was that he was a senior chunin and Minato was the strongest kage.

Minato blushed awkwardly feeling that he owed something to Kizashi. A long awkward silence followed.

Meanwhile Kushina was talking to the other moms and was having a great time. "My my, Sakura looks so cute with that bow in her head," Kushina was telling Mebuki "Where did you get it."

"Ahhh I got it from a travelling merchant in the Land of the Waves," Mebuki answered "but Sakura's being quite a handful. It took me such a long time to make her wear it, boys much be so much easier to handle."

"No you don't know how much of a handful Naruto and Minato are. Sometimes I think I'm the only reasonable one in the family," Kushina replied.

The mothers then continued on with what they did best, complain about their husbands.

Finally the sandaime announced that it was time to start the graduation ceremony and everyone started to go in.

"Hey Minato, do you know the grades, since you're the hokage," Inoichi asked him, trying to get a few hints out of the other blonde.

"No, I prefer to let sandaime-sama deal with the junior ninja stuff. Especially since he likes being with the younger generation. Take him as a sort of principal of the academy and genin," Minato said motioning to Shukaku who knew everything Minato was talking about.

Even though Minato hadn't organised the ceremony, he knew what was going to happen and knew it was going to be boring going through all of the formalities. So he made sure that he was sitting next to his friends.

I I I

A few hours later

I I I

"Now we shall anounce the top 3 graduating ninja," the sandaime hokage called out coming to the front of the temporary stage. On the stage, sat the graduating ninja and everyone was eager to find out their grades and the rookie of the year.

"The ninja who graduated with the third best marks," the sandaime called out using a wind technique that amplified his voice "is Aburame Shino."

Then the bug boy got up from his seat and proceeded to shake hands with the sandaime hokage as well as get his small trophie as a token for his hard work.

"Second place of the year, is Uchiha Sasuke," the sandaime called out. All of the girls squeeled in an inhumane manner as the uchiha got out of his seat and began walking towards the sandaime hokage for his second place trophie.

On his face he had the emotion of thankfulness, however Fugaku just hn'ed at his son's achievement. However Minato, being a ninja, could see underneath the underneath and knew that his rival was proud.

Then Minato was shocked as the sandaime called out the rookie of the year. He felt like the happiest man in the world as he saw Uzumaki Naruto, his son, getting up and walking towards the sandaime.

After that moment, however, Minato sunk down in his seat as his red headed wife began jumping up and calling out Naruto's name. He wondered about what he'd ever do with her.

I I I

The next day, at the academy

I I I

Naruto looked at the academy walls, walking towards his designated class - as if it was his last time ever seeing the white walls. Of course he had graduated from the academy but that didn't mean he wasn't ever going to come back again. However, still, he felt a sort of sadness in the corridors of the once-huge academy.

"Naruto-kun," a voice from behind him called out. Naruto turned around to find his favourite pinķ headed kunoichi running behind him. She had her forehead protector ontop of her head like a headband, which was pretty interesting.

"Naruto-kun, you look so different with a forehead protector," she called out as she caught up with him. Naruto liked the fact that she had picked that detail.

"Do I look like more of a ninja with it on?" he asked smiling at her with his white teeth and blue eyes. For her, Naruto looked surprisingly handsome today, especially since he wasn't acting like an idiot like he did around his father.

"Nah, you just look like more of a baka," she joked laughing at his reaction "what about you, do I look more ladylike with my forehead protector?" she asked him expecting a great answer.

"Don't worry Sakura, you look exactly the same," he said with an unintentional nice-guy pose. Sakura felt her heart sink from within, she didn't know why. Especially since it was Sasuke who she like and not Naruto.

Finally they reached their allocated class and went inside. Sakura went on to giiggle with Ino and Naruto found himself walking up to Sasuke. "Hey, good job on coming second. You gave me a real run for my money," he said to the uchiha boy.

"Thanks, Naruto," the not so arrogant uchiha replied back. He wasn't angry that Naruto had beat him, in fact ever since they were little Sasuke and Naruto had been the best of friends because of their mothers.

Happily Naruto sat next to Sasuke, who continued talking to the former about becoming a ninja. Then Inzuka Kiba came and sat right next to them, congratulating the both of them on winning their rewards. "Ehhh, Naruto, think you could teach me some of your techniques," Kiba inquired. Naruto just smiled and nodded saying "only if you teach me some of yours in return."

Then finally their sensei - Iruka entered the vicinity. As he set up his papers on his desk he began speaking "Okay kids, settle down. As you know, this is your final class in the academy because of you are all genin now. Today I am going to tell you your 3 man-cell teams and senseis."

Naruto twiddled his thumbs in excitement. His father had told him that it was up to the sandaime to make the teams and that there were two options. Either the sandaime would make each team a different speciality like - assaulting, tracking, holding or split them up so the teams were even in terms of job affinity.

Then Iruka began calling out the teams and the instructors. Then he came to Team 7. "The members of team 7 are: Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Hinata and Nara Shikamaru. Their instructor is Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto looked around for his friends - Shikamaru and Hinata. Shikamaru was a good teammate because he was extremely smart and loyal. Plus he and Shikamaru had been great friends since forever.

Hinata was also a pretty awesome teammate, they had been forced to hang out a few times because of their mothers, but he enjoyed the few times he had been with her.

So the sandaime hokage had gone for the 'scatter' approach. Then Iruka announced Team 8. "The members of Team 8 are: Uchiha Sasuke, Yamanaka Ino and Inzuka Kiba. Their instructor is Yuhei Kurenai."

Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder and found that it belonged to the smiling uchiha. "I really wanted to be on your team Naruto. Now it looks like I'm not, which is a shame," Sasuke whispered to his best friend.

"Don't worry Sasuke," Naruto began smiling his usual smile "you see this forehead protector. It signifies that we are comrades and ninja of Konohagakure, not that piece of paper."

Sasuke felt his heart warm up because of Naruto's words. He'd have to treat his friend to ramen sometime.

"The members of team 10 are: Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura and Akimichi Chouji. Their instructor is Sarutobi Asuma."

So it seemed that Sakura had been put in a team with two complete strangers, as she had only hung only around Hinata and Ino. This would be interesting. Then Iruka finished and all of the jonin instructors had collected their new subordinates. Well all of them except one.

Iruka just guided them to stay until he arrived. Which had been a mistake on his part.

I I I

3 hours later

I I I

Hatake Kakashi read his favourite porn manga series as he walked down the corridors of the academy. He remembered that he too, had learnt all of the basics here before becoming Minato-sensei's student. Now it seemed that his generation had taken on the teaching role.

He opened the door to his allocated classroom to find himself being drenched in water, covering his new porn book. "I can't believe he actually fell for it," said the voice of a jet black haired boy who was laughing with another blonde.

"I'm sorry to inform you... but you were supposed to be here 3 hours ago," said a purple haired girl with white eyes. She had her arms crossed in a very lady-like way. Kakashi hadn't even known that crossing your arms could have been done in such a woman like manner.

"Yari, Yari. I'm sorry but you see I got stuck on the road of life," Kakashi began before he was interupted. What interupted him was a small piece of crumbled paper that was thrown at him by the black haired boy.

You could tell that none of them were interested in an excuse. Then the purple haird girl began to unkowingly glance at the blomde at which point Kakashi thought that it was better to just learn their names.

"Follow me," he said in a boss-like tone which made all of them freeze. As he began walking he noticed a pattern. The blonde would always say something funny to the other boy, at which point he would laugh and then the girl would just stare at the blonde everytime he stopped talking and to stop feeling awkward the blonde would say another joke.

Kakashi could already tell that this team was going to be a handful. A fact which he quite liked. Finally he disturbed the pattern by the time they reached their destination - a public balcony.

"So introduce yourselves," was all Kakashi said. He was much too busy checking to see if his precious manga was ok and that the words weren't getting ruined by the water.

"Ummmm... how," the blonde said in an arrogant tone which reminded Kakashi of a certain redhead. Then Kakashi thought back to all those years ago and copied exactly what his sensei had told his team. He was the famous copy ninja afterall.

After he had finished, he signalled the blonde to go first.

"Well my name is Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto begun. What the blonde boy said - Kakashi already knew as he had silently guarded Naruto nearly every free day of the year - whether Minato-sensei had told him to or not.

So it wasn't a surprise to him that Naruto's favourite food was ramen, or that he liked his family, or that he dreamed of becoming hokage. It wasn't a surprise to him because Naruto was the most precious thing to him in his life, after Obito and Rin died.

However now it seemed that Naruto had some competition. These past few years with his sensei had changed him for the better. Before he would've just selected one of the three and tried to get that one to reach their potential. From training with Minato-sensei he had learned that all of his subordinates were just as important as the others and he wasn't going to favour Naruto.

Next, he asked the purple haired girl to speak. "My name is Hyuga Hinata. I like a lot of things...," she said as she looked at Naruto ,"I dislike people who are late and lazy and don't care for their friends. My dream is to...," she paused and looked at Naruto "as well as become a strong ninja like my father while being kind like my mother."

Kakashi looked at Hinata, who was the spitting image of her mother. He knew for a fact that Hiashi-sama hated long hair and would've most likely made Hinata cut hers down. However her mother adored it and that was probably why the gril sitting infornt of her had velvet treasure up to the middle of her back. She looked incredibly pretty.

Finally he asked Shukaku's son to go. The boy's introduction consisted of his name and a lazy 'everything's so troublesome' which Kakashi was disappointed with. It was one thing to teach motivated children like Naruto and Hinata but iw was another to teach someone with no motivation whatsoever. Still, he thought, if anyone could do it - it was him.

Still, he would see what his new cute subordinates were up to when they fought him, tommorow.

I I I

Later that day

I I I

Naruto had his fingers wrapped around his mothers thumb just the way she like it. He had often tried to tell her that he was too old for things like that but arguing with his mother was like arguing with a devil. She was red and scary.

So that was why everyone was looking at him like he was disabled as they walked to Shikamaru's house. He and Hinata had been called over for a 'play date' because thwy were going to be on the same team. He knew for a fact though, that it was going to be a lot less interesting than Kiba's and Chouji's party. Especially sinc eit was at the jonin commanders house, who always tended to be a bit serious.

His father wasn't coming because he had some work to attend to, which was a shame since his father was the perfect balance of serious and not serious. Meaning that he was always serious and mature with everyone else and immature and funny with him.

When they finally got the pathway into a small forest, Naruto remembered that the Naras had a few pet deer that they could play with. Even though he was twelve, his mother had taught him to embrace his child-i-ness, which was a major factor to why he was so silly.

When they finally got to the Nara mansion, they could see it dimly illuminating the forest. The Nara estate was mostly made out of golden wood which literally glowed in the dark. It was huge and three stories tall. Of course it had to be big, since it housed about 40 Nara clan members.

When Naruto and Kushina entered, they were greeted by the whole household population and naturally all of them stretched Naruto's cheeks. He exchanged a few polite formalities his mother had taught him before running off to find his friends - Shikamaru and Hinata.

He found them on in the garden at the back of the house, under a balcony. It was like the perfect hideout since it was surrounded by tall bushy trees. Once his new teammates saw him, they jumped and ran towards him, explaining a few combined jutsu they had been thinking of making.

"I know its troublesome but... we've been thinking about something. You know Kakashi no sharingan is an A-class jonin and is considered to be the most powerful ninja of his generation. Well I've been told by my dad that we are going to have to fight him as a final part of our genin test and there is no way a genin can beat him," Shikamaru stated. It was surprising to see how worked up Shikamaru had gotten but Naruto had learned that when Shikamaru thought of something it was worth listening to him.

"Yes, I know. My dad is always going on about how he taught the prodigy of the generation," Naruto said, trying to brag a bit about his dad. Then Naruto remembered that his dad was the hokage (strongest ninja in the village) and that there was no need to.

"Well we've been thinking that maybe with our combined strengths we might be able to. In fact we've already come up with a few combo moves that can take advantage of our numbers," Hinata said with excitement. It was clear that she wanted to show Naruto all of the hard work she had done. Naturaly, Naruto was also excited to see her work.

"Wait, lets not do it here, our parents can see us and they'll pester us with their old people advice. I want us to perfect our teamwork by ourselves," Naruto said before Hinata got a chance to show him some of their sketches.

"Yeah, dad is always going on on how I should improve. I want to find out for myself. In fact," I think I know the perfect secret training spot for us," Shikamaru added before going off with the others into the forest.

I I I

In the forest at night

I I I

"Shikamaru, you're a genius," Naruto said as he flung kunai at hinata, which in turn were creating shadows that lengthened the range of Shikamaru's shadow bind.

Even though Shikamaru only knew the kage mane jutsu, it was super useful as it let Naruto unleash his full power on someone as Shikamaru made sure they couldn't dodge.

Of course, he would never harm Hinata, so he diverted his punch into a tree which in turn caused a hole in it. Naruto had trained every single day with either his mom or dad in sealing and already by the age of 12 had the average jonin's arsenal of sealing jutsu.

His dad had also taught him a technique called the rasengan, which took him 2 whole months to master, even with his shadow clones. What he had just used was a variation of the rasengan which was shaped around his fist. A technique made possible because of his mother's training in chakra control.

So along with the skills an average genin had, he had jonin level fuinjutsu, chunin level speed and kage level chakra reserves. His chakra control had been disrupted by the latter skill, however intensive training with his mother had brought it up to the control for the average academy graduate.

So as Hinata used a quick - red fist style - punch, Naruto easily avoided it with his speed. He then unleashed another combo on Hinata which consisted of Shikamaru using his proficient shadow palm on her using Naruto as the vessel.

Just as they thought they had got her with a knockout (but not death) move Hinata was replaced with a piece of wood. "Naruto-kun, you shouldn't hold back next time. I can take it," Hinata whispered to Naruto.

Naruto felt guilty for not using the rasengan, now that he knew Hinata could've easily dodged it. "Sorry Hinata-chan. I underestimated you but it won't happen again," Naruto said scratching the back of his forehead.

"Its ok Naruto-kun. Its time for Shikamaru and I to verse you,' she replied as she got into a karate stance. When Naruto nodded, both Shikamaru and Hinata came at him using their respective taijutsu styles. However they couldn't keep up with Naruto's speed so he just grabbed Hinata's arm. Then, in one motion, he grabbed her waist and used his strength to throw her at Shikamaru who was a metre away.

However, to his dismay, Hinata swerved in the air which allowed Shikamaru to run under her and then grab onto him. 'Shit' Naruto though as Shikamaru's shadow almost came into contact with his. He couldn't hit Shikamaru with a physical attack, otherwise he would be caught.

So as Hinata ditched a few kunai his way, he caught two of them midair air and then fung them at Shikamaru. Then he slipped a small shuriken into the bundle which burst into a cloud of smoke. As Shikamaru was left in the smoke, Naruto ran up to Hinata and began to use his 'uzumaki-claw' taijutsu which overpowered Hinata's.

Finally as he was about to land a hit, Hinata jumped into the smoke for cover, choosing not to fight Naruto hand-to-hand. Then Shikamaru came out with a kunai that he used to distract Naruto as he tried to trap him with his shadow.

Naruto easily avoided both attacks and decided to go after Hinata again, as she was less trouble to take down. However when their arms collided, he was caught in the kage mane jutsu by Shikamaru.

"When...," Naruto began to say as the Hinata infront of him burst into Shikamaru and the other Shikamaru burst away as he was a clone. Then Hinata came out of the smoke and started explaining to Naruto Shikamaru's plan.

Then as he realised that 'Hinata' had been replaced by a henge when she went into the smoke, the real Hinata came at him with a powerful punch. However before her punch landed, Naruto disappeared.

"Wow, Naruto-kun, I never knew you were so fast," an impressed Hinata said as she lowered her fist. Then as she looked over to the silhouette of Naruto that had appeared in the corner of her eye, she realised that she was dead wrong.

The leaves of the forest rustled. The black night fought against the luminous glow of the ninja she faced. It was the yondaime hokage holding his son in one hand.

"My my. What do we have here?" the yondaime-sama asked the three as he releaed Naruto from his grip. Hinata and Shikamaru opened their mouths, speechless, like fish.

"Don't worry, I'm not a tattle tale. Nor will I tell you on how to imprive the combos you have made. What I want to do however, is teach you a few of my own combos," Minato said to the children with the happiest face. He was passing down knowledge onto the next generation, just as the sandaime had said.

Standing in the forests, on a tree was Kakashi of the sharingan. 'so this is why Minato-sensei called me here' he thought as he observed the childrens' exemplary teamwork. Their teamwork had been much better than his team's when he was younger, even if they were a little shabby in some areas. This was going to be an interesting team indeed.

End of Chapter.

Sorry for the shabby fight scene. I know the sentences were a bit too long and confusing but thats what I have to do when I'm writing something that has to set up their skills for the whole story.

I haven't written the reasons for all of the changes in this timeline, so if you have a question feel free to ask me in a pm or a review.

As for why there were no paragraphs last chapter... well and my phone were being a pain and it has changed its way of inserting documents. So as you know, my phone acts up like that. But its all fixed now, I hope.

Please review. Next chapter will be out within a week. I have a lot on so...


	3. Chapter 3

Like Father Unlike Son

Sorry that there is heavy action in this chapter. I tried to balance it out with a bit of romance after but I don't like too much romance. So tell me how you prefer it, with the big 'r' or without.

Chapter 3: Teamwork is Key

Uzumaki Naruto was not having a good day. First of all, he had been woken up early by his mother so she could take some photos before he left for the final part of the genin test. That was not something he wanted after a late night of training with his friends and dad in 'teamwork'.

Another little grouch for him was the fact that he hadn't had any breakfast. Breakfast was usually the thing that got him up in the morning because it was a taste of his mother's top cooking. So instead of his perfect opening to the day, he had just had a glass of water before leaving to his allocated training grounds.

Which came to his final grouch. His new 'sensei' was late which annoyed the crap out of him. Especially since he had been turned into the time-sharp guy he was by his father. So it really irritated him that someone was late because his father had told him that that person thought nothing of Naruto's time. So he was not having a good day at all.

On the upside, he had gotten to smell and see one of his favourite people in the world - Hinata-chan - first thing in the morning. And now that they were in a team, he was going to be seeing a lot more of her. Unbeknownst to him, Hinata was thinking exactly the same thing about him. Especially since she could be her normal self around him unlike others where she was shy. Maybe it was because they were childhood friends that she felt so comfortable to him.

So the both of them didn't realise that they were staring into each other's eyes leaving Shikamaru to just stare at the clouds. For 2 hours. Even when Kakashi had arrived, he had stopped the two lovebirds visual contact but he hadn't succeeded in removing Shikamaru's eyes from the clouds. Ahh the clouds were so fluffy and free.

"Shikamaru-chan... Shikamaru-chan... SHIKAMARU," Kakashi yelled as Shikamaru finally snapped out of his gaze. When Shikamaru did however the boy showed no sign of apology when he looked at his new teacher. Not that his teacher deserved it because he was so late.

"I don't want to hear any excuses," Naruto said unimpressed "lets get on with the final part of our test." All the while, Hinata just stared at Naruto and thought about how cool he had sounded when he said that. Then she realised she was turning into Sakura and stopped, wondering what had gotten over her today. Could it be love. Or atleast it was a 12 year old's interpratation of the word.

"Okay, then. Well the test is simple. Each of you need to get a bell of me to pass," Kakashi said showing two silver bells that had been used across the generations.

Shikamaru put his hand up, serious. When Kakashi nodded at him he began to speak "There are only two bells. Does that mean only two of us can pass?" Kakashi's body language signified that he had anticipated the question.

"Yes," he replied in a tone just as serious "Now the rules are simple, you have until sundown to get the bells. And that there are no other rules," he finished speaking. With that he grabbed his kunai in one hand and a book in the other "and just a tip. Come at me with the intent to kill."

Right after his voice stopped, Shikamaru grabbed two kunai and set them in motion towards Kakashi. The jonin used his kunai to deflect both of Shikamaru's which in turn made the sound of metal clanking - twice. However Shikamaru had already anticipated the jonin's move and elongated his shadow towards the masked man.

The masked man simply ran backwards while reading his book, only to be caught by another shadow behind him. The Shikamaru infront of him disappeared to reveal that he was a bunshin. Then Kakashi was forced to turn his head to look at the real Shikamaru behind him. Hinata and Naruto just watched as this all happened. There was a point in time when Hinata had tried to interfere but she had been stopped by Naruto who had told her to relax for now.

"All I need to do is get a bell right," Shikamaru said as he readied his hand. Then he felt a cold kunai on his neck, that rested there like a noose. The Kakashi infront of him burst into a poof. "Don't get to hasty... I haven't said start yet," the jonin said, still reading his book. He flipped a page with one hand and paused for a moment before announcing "Begin."

With that Shikamaru twisted around and tried to punch Kakashi, which Kakashi dodged. Then Shikamaru revealed his motive, which was to get a bell. As Shikamaru jumped away he revealed the silver bell in his hand which shocked Kakashi. 'How did he find out where I hid the bells on me ' Kakashi thought as he put his hand to the true place of the bells, one of his breast pockets.

However both bells were still there as both the bells on Kakashi's hip and the bell in Shikamaru's hand disappeared into smoke. The jonin smiled, the boy was smart just like his father. Then Shikamaru came at Kakashi trying to grab the real bells bu Kakashi grabbed his arm in midair. Kakashi then pressed a pressure point on the boy's arm which made him bellow in pain for a single second, after which Kakashi jumped away.

However Shikamaru had already served his purpose to the team. So all three members remembered back to last night.

Flashback.

"Considering that we will have to physically fight our new sensei, there are only 3 reasonable (meaning most likely for us) objectives of the test and for all of them, teamwork is most important," Shikamaru had told them in the dark of the night. They had been standing in a dense part of the forest so no one could have heared their plan.

"The First scenario is that we have to just prove to our sensei that we can hold our own against him," he said "that would just entail us using various defensive and offensive combos against him to show our practical strength.

"The second scenario is that we have to extract some information from him," he had continued on speaking, not kowing how boring he sounded 'this would be a troublesome scenario but we can still pull it off, since we will probably be given a few helping hands to pull it off because extracting information off a jonin isn't a genin skill."

"The third and most troublesome scenario, is to collect an item off him," Shikamaru had said "this is most likely as this is where we can really show off our skills without any help. However if we are asked to do this there are important steps we have to follow which I am going to expand on right now."

"Step 1: identify where the item actually is. If it comes to it, I will be the one completing the first step since I am most suited with my background knowledge and kage mane jutsu to feel around his body," he had said in an important tone. The only things that had heard their conversationg were the deer, who remained loyal to Shikamaru and him only.

End of Flashback.

So now as Shikamaru had completed the first step, he hoped that Naruto and Hinata were remembering what he had told them. Which he knew they were by the expression on their faces. The biggest factor that was threatining them was the fact that there were only two bells. He hoped that Naruto and Hinata knew that only through teamwork could any of them get the bells and it was better for their chosen two to pass rather than none pass at all.

So Shikamaru smiled as Naruto swayed a kick from right to left at Kakashi's head, which Kakashi dodged by ducking. Naruto then reversed his kick, as planned, going lower than it had gone before. However this time Kakashi caught his leg and lifted it, which caused Naruto to become imblanaced and fall on his back.

However this was what Naruto had planned. So Naruto continued with his attack, using a roundhouse kick on Kakashi while lying on the floor. However Naruto's attempt to trip Kakashi didn't work as the jonin simply jumped over Naruto's leg, Naruto twisted his body on the floor and used his strong arms to catch one of Kakashi's jumping legs before getting up with Kakashi leg, which caused Kakashi to fall backwards.

Kakashi responded by doing a quick handstand and then a backflip, so his foot nearly kicked Naruto's face in. Naruto's new sensei was far better at hand-to-hand combat than his friends were. However Naruto's plan hadn't been to take down Kakashi solo, he had just served as a distraction for Hinata to lay down her trap along the floor.

And before Kakashi knew it, he was pushed into the trap by a flailing Naruto. Kakashi's eyes widened as he looked at Hinata perform a seal with one hand. Then he found about 7 wires with paper bombs attached to them, rise and tie him up.

Kakashi was indeed impressed, he hand't known that Naruto was going to utilize his teammates as a source of power and the trap him. This team was indeed showing great teamwork.

However he didn't have rnough time to think as he saw Naruto performing some seals that Kakashi recognized all too well. The Katon Goukakyu no jutsu. It seemed that his subordinate had learnt a few tricks from his friends in the academy.

So Kakashi smiled as he saw a block of wood being burned by the perfect giant fireball jutsu. Then Kakashi's eyes opened wide again, as he realised he was caught in the kage mane jutsu.

"It was obvious that this point was where you were going to switch to, seeing that you checked if this spot was safe before you substituted with that block of wood," Shikamaru said in a cocky tone "And it was also obvious that you did that on purpose so we could utilize the members of our team."

Kakashi was impressed, this boy was truly a gift. Then he smiled as Hinata made use of her amazing strength as she completely destroyed the branch he was standing on. He stood from within the bushes thinking about how he could train this team because of course he was keeping them. He just wanted to see how far they could go.

Over the course of the day, the team continued to show many great combos after that. All of them challenging Kakashi's opinion on who the strongest was out of them. However as the sun began to set, it became clear to him that Naruto was definitely the strongest. The team knew this and continued to use him as their main source of energy and power. So soon Kakashi began to feel his chakra stores deplete.

"The sun is about to set, you guys don't have much time," Kakashi yelled to the three students who were currently using their weapoms to elongate Shikamaru's shadows. Kakashi felt that his chakra stores were almost at zero. He needed to keep them occupied for just a bit longer.

Then he prepared to engage Naruto and Hinata, both in hand-to-hand combat once more. So as his arm collided with Hinata's foot, everything went normal with Hinata retracting her foot and trying to come at him at new angles. However when Kakashi's arm collided with Naruto's arm, he noticed that something was very wrong.

He could see Shikamaru from the corner of his eye and could tell that he hadn't been caught in his kage mane jutsu. Oh but he had. Because both naruto and Shikamaru burst into poofs to reveal the other. That was fantastic teamwork, they had switched with each other after Kakashi had analysed their skills and now he was trapped. In fact Shikamaru held him so tightly that he coulxn't even perform seals with one hand, he guessed this was because Shikamaru was so close to him.

However what baffled him was that the fake Shikamaru - or Naruto - had been concentrating his chakra and performing seals for quite a long time. He had originally thought it was another one of Shikamaru's thinking methods as it didn't have the yang seals in it but now he wondered what jutsu it was. Naruto had used only neutral seals, some that even kakashi didn't even know.

Then Kakashi realised that he had just been mistaken as another giant fireball came at him. This time he decided to substitute with something far away so he could waste time, however that wasn't the case. Somehow he couldn't do anything and as the fireball came at him, he didn't even feel the burn.

Kakashi had been trapped inside a genjutsu, he thought trying to dispel it. Soon enough, he found the mental power within himself to shout "kai." When he woke in the real world again, he was lying down on a tree and infront of him Naruto, Shikamaru and Hinata held both bells at the same time. "We won," they said in the same exact tone as if they were in choir.

Then Shikamaru felt the need to explain how they had won, even though Kakashi already knew how. Shikamaru started with a piece of information that Kakashi hadn't known about. "We had this all planned yesterday as one of our potential scenarios. We had talked about a list of steps yesterday..."

Naruto remembered the flashback.

Flashback.

"Step 2 is to use our combos and mainly Naruto to waste Kakashi-sensei's chakra and energy. This is important as there is no way that we can physically defeat him. Step 3 is to put him under a genjutsu, which will be Naruto's/Hinata's job thanks their high academy level genjutsu techniques." The deers had howled at all of Shikamaru's explaining.

"Remember that this will not work unless Kakashi sensei has little to no chakra at all. As we know - the way we get out of a genjutsu is by creating a rift in our chakra. By using a genin level genjutsu we can only hope to keep for about a minute if he has no chakra at all but that will serve its purpose if all we have to do is retrieve an item from him."

End of Flashback

Shikamaru continued explaining. "The only way to get you under a genjutsu was to make sure that you couldn't move at all. So we used one of our most shccessful combos where I switched places with Naruto."

"The rest was all up to Naruto to use the highest level genjutsu he had, which took him about 10 minutes to complete the seals of but that was ok because Hinata and I distracted you with our hand-to-hand combat."

"Finally he used the 'Expectation' genjutsu on you which allowed us to retreive the bells," Shikamaru finished explaining "Which brings us to our final comment. We could not have achieve this all on our own and we needed all three of us to retreive the bells. So please let us all pass." Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto used the best puppy-dog faces they could muster for the moment.

Kakashi smiled on the inside and decided that it was time to break down the test to them. "You all pass. This final exam was to test your teamwork. There were two bells to challenge your friendship. I know I made the rule that only two could pass. However, remember this. In the ninja world - those who break the rules are scum... but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum." Kakashi's faces showed mixed emotions of happiness and seriousness.

Naruto remembered hearing those words somewhere, from his father or someone. He saw that Kakashi's face was remembering an experience that made him the man he was today. "So... say Kakashi-sensei. Now that we are a team and all. Why don't you treat us to ramen," Naruto asked slyly with his puppy dog eyes again.

Kakashi just laughed before saying anything that was vaguely understandable. While he was laughing though, he did mutter some words about tenzo or Kushina or some Jiraiya or some other person. Naruto really didn't have the energy to figure it out. Then the Kakashi infront of his crumbled into sand which blew away with the wind.

The real Kakashi approached them from behind. "I knew it was some kind of clone. How many fold weaker was it than the real you?" Shikamaru inquired the energetic man.

"About 20. However I wasn't expecting 3 rookie genin to even retreive the bells from somone 20 fold weaker than me. Its still an exeptional achievement. I am expecting you to be atleast high genin to be able to actually retreive the bells from my sand clone. And about ramen, yes I feel like you guys deserve it."

His last sentence made Naruto literally jump for joy and Shikamaru mutter something about being troublesome. Hinata couldn't wait to be eating with Naruto... and the rest of the members of her team. Now she knew what Sakura and Ino felt like when they were around Sasuke. No wonder why they were so weak, they just couldn't get their minds of the man.

I I I

The Next Day

I I I

Naruto flashed a smile at his mother before he left the house, his breakfast half in his mouth and only one arm in his cloak. He ran into his father in frontyard of their mansion, which matched the Hyuga Estate. Even though both his parents were orphans, they had still managed to stand on their own feet and now owned an estate that rivalled the Uchiha's and Hyuga's.

Minato just smiled at his son, remembering his old days at the orphanage, as Naruto ran past him. Then Minato decided it was time to go to work, so he just hirashined into his office. Creating the hirashin was a beauty and one day he was going to teach Naruto how to use it.

So as Minato drifted away in his office, a root anbu was startled as he walked in on the yondaime whistling. "Oh don't worry, continue to spy on me, I'm sorry for coming early today,' Minato said in the most serious tone he could muster while keeping his 'straight' face.

He could smell the anbu's sweat as he pulled himself into the vents above and pretended that everything was normal. Minato continued to whistle his wife's favourite tune and wasn't surprised when she walked in.

"Uzumaki Kushina reporting for work," she said aluting the blonde "Yondaime-sama I believe I have some urgent news." Her beautiful red hair was tied into a pigtail behind her. She had a new hairstyle everyday.

"What is it," the village's favourite blonde stated. Still keeping his serious face. He slowly got up from his chair and started walking towards the woman.

"The urgent news is that your wife is bored and wants something fun to do. Plus the fact that you have to clean the mess you made in the room," the redhead said standing as lazily as possible with her hands on her wide hips.

She bit her lower lip smiling, before falling into the blonde's arms smiling. "That does seem like an urgent matter, Which one do you think I should do first?" he said using his velvet voice looking into her blue eyes.

Kushina's voice turned deep and ladylike with a hint of cheekiness in it "I don't know. Which one do YOU want to do first?" she asked as she began to passionately kiss him. Unbeknownst to her, a small frog was disposing of a sleeping body of a 'random' anbu in some vent.

"All I know is that both jobs require teamwork," Minato said reminding himself how important teamwork really was. Kushina just giggled at her husband's joke, knowing full-well that she wasn't going to help him clean the living room.

I I I

An hour later

I I I

All of the ninja who had knocked and walked into the hokage office weren't the tiniest bit surprised that the usual rehead was casually sitting down on his desk while he sat on his seat. They may have been surprised 5-6 years ago but they had gotten uaed to it over the years. The unexpected appearances of Uzumaki Kushina that is.

So the only people who were surprised were Naruto and his teammates, who rocked up as quickly as they could as Kakashi had arrived late, again. Naruto had been expecting his father, as he had often hung out in his father's office -when he was younger looking at how his dad worked. However, seeing his mother scared him because she was just going to embarass him infont of his friends.

"Oh, so you how are you guys doing receiving your first mission," she called out "oh and my, Hinata-chan is looking quite pretty ya know. Am I right Naruto." She had said the last lkne in a mocking tone which had made both the genin blush.

"Now, now Kushina. Let me give them their first mission," Minato stopped her from embarassing his son "I made sure to get you guys an extra special mission that involves some type of combat. This is a D-rank missiom that basicaly requires you to catch a cat." Minato then proceeded In handing a scroll to a bowing Kakashi. 'Ah,' Minato thought 'the next generation is finally taking over.'

"Hey, a D-rank mission. Who do you think we are," Naruto yelled at his father like a winging baby. He waggled his hands about and made a fool of himself. Minato facepalmed himself, just right now he was looking so cool infront of his teammates.

"Naruto, stand down," Kakashi saved Minato from having to say it "it is customary that all rokkie genin do D-rank missions, especially their first. You should consider yourself lucky that your first mission is such an active and well-paid one. Most genin start of with chores like weed pulling for their first mission."

Kakashi decided to save the lecture for next time as he was wasting the hokage's time and from the looks of the amount of ninja waiting in line infront of his office. The hokage's time was probably the most precious thing in the village.

I I I

In a forests of Konoha

I I I

"Naruto, come in," the deep voice of a silver haired jonin exclaimed through an electronic speaker. He was currently resting on a branch, reading his favourite erotica ready to jump in if someone was about to get hurt.

Kakashi wasn't 'that' type of teacher like Kurenai and Gai, instead of repeatedly becoming part of the team and helping the students to the work. He was more like Asuma and Minato-sensei who gave the students hints on how to do the job and then only helped if he was absolutely needed.

There was no evidence that stated that one kind of teaching was better than the other. For years Konoha had been in an abyss twisting and turning between the better ninja and their types of teachers.

For example Tobirama senju (the second hokage), had been a laid-back teacher and had produced the sandaime hokage. While the sandaime hokage had been a full-helping teacher which had produced Jiraiya of the sannin (the strongest of his generation). Then to make matters more twisty, Jiraiya another laid back teacher had produced the most powerful ninja alive - the yondaime hokage.

This was an everlasting chain that twisted around and aroumd just like many others including 'Yin and Yang', 'Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu' and 'brain and brawn'. Kakashi could go on about teacher-student relationships forever.

But currently he was busy checking if Naruto was doing his job. "NARUTO, COME IN," he yelled through the speakers which made Shikamaru's and Hinata's ears hurt. Naruto, who had just been playing around with an ant with his headset - heard a loud voice and put his headset back on.

"Naruto here," he said "Sorry, I was... distracted." Naruto subconsciously made an 'oops' face even though none of them could see him

"Okay Naruto...," Kakashi said softly this time "Have you reached your position?" Kakashi hoped that the boy wasn't being a dope and had actually listened to the plan.

Then he realised he was dead wrong as one of Naruto's bunshin came up to the seated jonin and presented a cat. "NARUTO," he yelled "this was supposed to be a TEAM mission."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry," Naruto started explaining "But my speed is around chunin level, so I didn't see the need to waste time. So I just sent one of my clones to collect the cat and bring it to you."

"I know you had the sufficient skills to do it on your own," Kakashi began explaining, quite frustratedly "however this is our first mission as team 7 and I thought we should complete it as a team. Now you've ruined the moment for Shikamaru and Hinata."

The Naruto clone saw the frustrated look on Kakashi's face "Oh ok. Don't worry then," he said as he did something evil. He let the cat loose, out of his arms and into the wild again "this way Hinata and Shikamaru have a chance of catching it themselves," he said with the widest grin possible.

Kakashi seriously rethought about passing him of as a genin, how could he be so stupid. Then he reminded himself that Naruto wasn't stupid, he was just acting like it. Just like Gai, Kushina, Jiraiya and the sandaime had done to lighten up the mood.

Naruto's clone must've sensed something coming as Kakashi got up. Because he dispelled himself the second Kakashi loosened his arm. He seriously wondered about the boy.

I I I

Meanwhile in the land of the Waves

I I I

Gatoh licked his fingers in happiness as he walked out of Zabuza's cramped hideout. He had just gotten himself an actual jonin ninja. And not just any jonin, he has gotten himself the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

"Sir, don't you think that he is asking for a little too much," one of Gatoh's hired pirate goons exclaimed placing his hand on the handle of his sword. He licked his moist disgusting lips, awaiting the answer that he wanted to hear.

"Oh no, death isn't much to ask," Gatoh said as he mentally acknowledged his goon's bloodthirst "in fact. When he is done with Tazuna, I'll let your blade pierce his heart first."

The goon licked his lips again. Soon he would be able to add "Demon Ninja Slayer" to his title and what a magnificent title it would be - "Takami the Demon Ninja Slayer."

He was glad that Gatoh had hired. It would mean that he would get to kill the same type of person that defamed him all those years ago - Uzumaki Kushina.

In fact he should've probably thanked her because of she allowed him to live on a 'leave no survivors mission'. However still, returning to the land of water's pirate corps, having failed a mission was like returning to jail. So after he added the achievement to his title his would definitely go after her in Konoha to get his revenge.

I I I

In the Land of the Sound

I I I

"Kabuto...," said a very pale man who currently was licking the tip of his kunai. He had just slit someone's head withthe kunai so some of the sound 4 might've found it quite unhygienic. However any thoughts that had been in their head had been lifted by the sheer atmosphere of the room. "Kabuto," the pale man called out again, he certainly didn't like to wait.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama," a silver haired genin replied, pushing his glasses furhter up his nose. He had just entered the room and from the looks of his clothes, he had been on a mission which involved killing. A lot of killing.

"What have you learned of the chunin exams happening in Konoha," he said excited. Konoha was finally holding the public exams, which meant easy entries for Orochimaru and his goons. It seemed he would get his revenge soon.

"I don't know if these chunin exams are the right way to invade. From the looks of the relations between Konoha and Kumo, it seems that this will be the first chunin exams where all 5 great villages will be participating. There will be a LOT of security," the silver haired genin informed the pale man. From the corner of his eye he saw the test subject that Orochimaru had just killed and felt ashamed. Another test gone wrong.

"Don't worry Kabuto-chan. We may not have sufficient power to invade Konoha. But I know someone who does," the pale man said as he twisted his purple tongue across his face.

In his hand he held a picture of a man with really oddly coloured hair. Maybe even he wasn't strong enough to 'persuade' the man but he didn't need to be. As long as everything went according to his plan.

End of Chapter

I know that there aren't pirate corps in canon. However if the Land of the Fire has its monks why can't the Land of the Water have a pirate corps.

Bit of a dodgy chapter but I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will be out by the end of the week.


	4. Chapter 4

Like Father Unlike Son.

Please not - that it if happened in the anime and it wasn't a filler - then I won't repeat it in my story. Eg - Zabuza's first fight with Kakashi - Kakashi confronting Tazuna about the rank of the mission - the hokage and Kakashi explaining the rank of missions to Naruto. Unless the events prior to the event change how it works - I won't be writing it again.

In saying that however - most major events will come into the story because Naruto's teammates have changed. Also I will write the stuff that happened in the manga but is unkown to the anime 'watchers'.

I wanted to fit in a lot more in this chapter - but I couldn't which is a shame. But thats why it seems so rushed - explanation at the end

(Double chapter - fanfic wont let me fit more than 6000 words on one document right now so im posting a chapter in the form of '2' chapters

Chapter 4: The Land of the Waves

Kakashi looked at his three students, as they walked infront of him on the path to the Land of the Waves. Beside him walked an overly arrogant man, who had been deprived of his alcohol. Even though the man hadn't been allowed to drink, Kakashi could still smell the musk of beer on the man's moist lips.

He remembered back to why he was doing this in the first place.

Flashback.

Minato-sensei had been especially 'forceful' in the morning. "Kakashi, I think its time Naruto and his team does a C-rank mission. His team is miles ahead of any other - in terms of experience, thanks to Naruto's shadow clones," Minato had said with a strained face.

"That brings me to something esle I wanted to discuss," Kakashi had replied "I believe Naruto shouldn't be overdoing his training. First - he personally trains with me in the early morning. Then he trains as a group in the later morning. Then he does 4-5 missions using his clones before finally training with you in extreme areas."

Minato had stopped leaning on his chair, lazily, and had clasped his hands on the table. "Extreme areas," he had asked sneakily eyebrowing his former student.

"Hokage-sama, I regard the taju-kagebunshin jutsu (multi-shadowclone technique) and extreme area. It is a forbidden technique and not even I can perform it," Kakashi had explained " the only person who can perform it - other than Naruto is Kushina-sama. Thats because of her special chakra. We shouldn't exploit Naruto's large chakra reserves because if he ends up borrowing chakra from the kyubi..."

"Enough Kakashi. I know you care for the boy but I know his potential. I believe Team 7 is ready to take on C-rank missions and they are going to take this mission," Minato had finalised with Kakashi. The hokage's body language had shown that he was busy elsewhere and that he didn't have time for arguments. It was all so troublesome.

End of flashback.

He gazed at Naruto, who was scouting upfront. Naruto had the potential to become... something else. Far greater than he, or Minato sensei, or Orochimaru or even the 1st hokage had become. However, Kakashi wondered if rushing the boy into greatness was the wisest choice Lord Yondaime could have made.

Naruto was probably chunin exam material right now - heck Kakashi would go far enough to say that Naruto would land a spot in the finals if he was to take them right now.

As for Hinata and Shikamaru... They needed a little more training before they entered the next chunin exams - something Kakashi would be sure to get in before the mission ended.

It had only been half an hour since they had left Konoha and Kakashi was already disappointed with his team - to some extent. High level genin would never let this pass.

"Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata - what have I told you about travelling missions," Kakashi yelled from behind the trio. This wasn't what he had expected of the team he had fought. Naruto turned around with the blankest look on his face, while Hinata looked like she had an answer.

However the only one to speak up was Shikamaru. "That we need to have a strong formation and right now we aren't in one." Kakashi simply nodded at Shikamaru which indicated to him that he should keep talking.

"The formation I suggest is - Naruto and Hinata infront - their scouting skills. Tazuna and sensei In the middle with me behind. That way sensei will be able to give orders while our two strongest assault genin at the front can respond quickly."

Shikamaru explained a few more things about his idea while Kakashi just smiled and nodded. Shikamaru hated the strong-silent types with the smug faces.

Although Kakashi didn't show it he was impressed with the Nara's quick thinking and reasoning - so he ushered his team to form the formation.

Just as Kakashi got used to the hot sun on his back and he had taken out some more porn - something else arose. He used his observation skills to identify a puddle - which looked like it consisted of two ninja. He wondered if Hinata and Naruto would notice it.

Shikamaru obviously had because he had already drawn a kunai from his ninja pouch. Kakashi chose not to get anything out because it the ninja were no higher than chunin level. He had observed this from the complecity of the henge - and (being one of the strongest jonin in the village) he could take down two chunin in the blink of an eye.

Finally, when Naruto and Hinata were 5 metres away from the puddle - one of them showed some understanding of the situation. Hinata had increased her breathing speed and now held her body so it could spring into an attack the second she touched the puddle.

Naruto however was oblivious to the situation until Hinata attacked the puddle with two kunai. Naruto's lightning fast reflexes enabled him to block one of the ninja's attacks. However he got in the way of Hinata's exploding kunai. Naruto took in all of the information as an annoyed Hinata delayed the explosion of her kunai - allowing the two ninja to dispose of the weapons.

Naruto couldn't believe his situation. He was in an actual fight with an opposing group. This was so col. Then he tried to calm his mind - he had to think about Hinata and Shikamaru - his weaknesses. He needed to make sure that no harm came to them.

"I didn't expect a genin to see through a chunin's henge," one of the ninja called out "if the boy hadn't interfered I would have been too startled to do anything. And would probably be dead" The ninja who spoke released the chain binding him to the other and prepared to fight.

"We had prepared to end this quickly and easily but now it seems that we're gonna have to fight," the other yelled out as he attached another chain to his gauntlet.

Both of the chunin ran at Naruto and Hinata at the same time throwing kunai at the pair. However the two chunin dodged the two genin. Instead the one with the chains - used the chains to trap Tazuna and the other used his spiked gauntlet to stab Kakashi.

The chunin who stabbed Kakashi smiled as he felt Kakashi's liveliness leave his body. Then he turned to his friend with the chains "Come on, split him into pieces," he said as if he was the boss.

"I...I...I C...ca...n't," the chain chunin forcefully muttered.

Spiked gauntlet gave his brother some words of wisdom "I dont care if you don't have the stomach to kill an ordinary old person. Just do it you little shit."

"No... YOU...dont... understand... I... ca..ca...n't...move," Meizu warned his brother - Gozu. however it was too late because Hinata had already whisped a few kunai at the pair.

Gozu, being a chunin, had the ability to dodge a kunai thrown by genin at a second's notice. He did so but while trying to protect his brother, however his trapped brother obtained a small slit through his cheeck.

Then 'Tazuna' exploded in smoke that revealed Shikamaru - who was going to slit Meizu's throat at point-black range. If it had been any other goon he had fought - Shikamaru would've been able to atleast slit the jugular vein. However he was halted by the chunin before the kunai got close to the neck.

Shikamaru immediately noticed he couldn't match any of them in taijutsu and so jumped back a great distance - allowing Naruto to use the great fireball technique.

'Yes,' Naruto thought 'Try to get as far away from them as possible. I'll take them on.'

It looked like both of the chunin had been incinerated but only the real Kakashi clearly saw what happened. Kakashi acted fast and stopped Tazuna from yelling out 'yes' and giving out their position In the forests.

After the smoke cleared - the chunin revealed themselves by cracking the ground to show their hiding place underground.

However Hinata didn't leave any room for the chunin to act as she begun her taijutsu striks on the opponents. Naruto - just realising what had happened joined Hinata's fight and initiated hand-to-hand combat.

Naruto knew that there was no way Hinata could beat one of these guys in taijutsu - he himself was struggling - so he looked over to Shikamaru who was busy formulating a plan.

Meizu decided to body slam Hinata onto the floor. Naruto raged on the inside. Then as he was fighting - he saw Hinata being picked up by Meizu again. No he was the strongest genin - he couldn't allow his teammates to get seriously injured on the very first mission.

He stopped his brawl with Gozu and unpredictably tried to tackle Meizu to the ground - with no technique. Naruto failed. All he could do was watch from the ground as he Meizu brought his kunai closer and closer to Hinata's temples.

Just a little more - Naruto thought as he was halfway up. Then a miracle occured. Meizu who was a breath away from killing Hinata - stopped dead in his tracks.

Hinata gave him a look of annoyance before he felt something hard damage his head. Naruto's reaxtion speed had been hard wored to the max by his father - so Naruto automatically grabbed the weapon and pulled hard in an upwards motion - as a reflex.

However the weapon was mounted on to Gozu's gauntlet - so Naruto's amazing strength ended up slamming Gozu onto the floor. Gozu understood that dealing with Naruto first was too hard - it would be easier to just take the other two out of the situation.

Naruto's eyes hurt as he saw Gozu running at Shikamaru - who yelled out "Combination 4" to the rest of his team. Naruto racked through his brains trying to find the meaning of the combination while Hinata understood what Shikamaru had done.

As Gozu came close Shikamaru backed away in to the proximity of the trees. Gozu thought about the combination and wondered why the others hadn't acted. Gozu wasn't worried though - because of he was so much stronger that the boy who seemed so confident.

However Gozu made a mistake as he stepped into the path of a shadow of thin wire. It was only one footstep but that was all Shikamaru needed. Naruto gaped as he looked above the pair and saw the inticate arrangement of thin wires above them - probably layed out by a clone.

"It doesn't matter that you've caught me," Gozu beamed as if Shikamaru's shadow grip was nothing "there is only a thin shadow binding me to you amd because of your little experience with the technique - that means that I can pretty much speak on my own accord. Plys your binding is weakening - you can only hold me here for about 20 seconds."

Shikamaru was surprised of Gozu's quick analysis. However Gozu was no match for Hinata's raw concentrated power (taught to her by her mother).

Just as soon as Gozu fell to the floor in defeat - Kakashi reappeared as if to tell the group that they had done well. Well he had planned to but really only two members had actually done well.

"Naruto, you're teamwork was poor," Kakashi said in his authorative voice. Naruto looked to the ground like a little child who had disappointed his father.

Naruto, too, was disappointed with himself. He had been the best out of the group - but he hadn't been able to take the two chunin on. It brought to his mind a new concept - to which he was a stranger. There were actually people out there who were stronger than him - people who he couldn't defeat.

What was most chilling for Naruto wasn't Kakashi's disappointment. It wasn't tha fact that Naruto had been weak compared to the chunin. No what was most chilling to him was the expression on Hinata's face. He had never seen that from her before. An expression of disgust.

Then, strangely he heard a loud noise from Gozu and took out a kunai - now was the chance to redeem himself. He immediately jumped infront of Hinata to protect her.

"You think a punch from a GENIN can knock me out," the chunin yelled bragging about his rank. Naruto prepared himsslf but Kakashi had already taken care of the problem.

"Naruto - combination 4 meant that you follow Hinata's attack with one of your fire techniques," Shikamaru said unimpresssed pointing the blame of their failure to subdue the chunin over to Naruto.

Atleast, Naruto had shown Hinata that he cared for her but as he turned around Hinata turned her face away angrily - making a 'hmph' noise. Naruto felt his gut twist - he didn't like this feeling at all.

The rest of their journey had been one filled with tension between the group. Hinata had slowly difted from her position close to Naruto and had switched with Kakashi - so that she was next to Tazuna. The group had already used the Tazuna replacement formation that Shikamaru had suggested and had so switched to a new one.

It didn't help Naruto feel any better now that Kakashi was staring at his back. so when Naruto and Kakashi were about 10 metres ahead of Hinata and Tazuna - Naruto began to talk softly to Kakashi.

"Why do you think that Hinata is angry with me. It was Shikamaru's plan that I forgot," Naruto said to Kakashi. Kakashi raised his eyebrows at the question - this event reminded him of a few events that had happened in his past.

"Look Naruto, sometimes we can let out teamates down but they are our comrades and they will forgive us. I guess Hinata is just angry about you being a hindrance to the team - even though you claim to be the strongest out of the trio," Kakashi offered his advice softly because he decided his authorative tone wasn't suited for the moment.

Naruto looked over his shoulder before speakjng again "Am I?" he asked unclearly. Kakashi sighed and decided to give him the full length approach. Much like explaining to a child the scientific reason for why they can't eat so much chocolate.

"Look Naruto - in terms of raw power and strength - yes you are the strongest on the team. But in terms of REAL strength, in terms of attitude and cooperation - you're not. In the real world - strength isn't an application of power - like it probably was in the academy. In the real world it is a combination of values important to both ninja and civillians - including power but not limited to it," Kakashi said like a wise man - much like Lord Jiraiya had once told him.

Naruto felt relieved as they finally got to the docks. The tension hadn't lifted though - Shikamaru and Hinata had stayed to one side while Naruto stayed to the other.

Kakashi knew what was happening but he decided not to interfere. The only way that this would result in a healthy relationship was if the children sorted it out between themselves. There would be a few who would attack him of being a lazy teacher but this was the way he was taught.

When they finally got onto the boat - Kakashi decided to settle his dispute with the disgustingly drunk man.

After everything was settled between the adults - Naruto decided it was time to settle the tension between his teammates. He didn't make a good start however.

"Why do you have that stupid expression on your face," he yelled at Hinata - who was looking the other way. She completely ignored him.

Kakashi looked at the blonde and made a gesture that told Naruto to be nicer and not so loud. What Kakashi had really meant with the gesture was for him not to be so idiotic.

"So you're not talking to me just because I let you guys down once. You're not talking to me just because I couldn't defeat the two chunin - is that how it works," he continued talking. It was clear now - that his problem wasn't with Shikamaru's slight frustration but with Hinata's anger.

"Your statement is exactly why I'm angry at you. Just because you know the most techniques or have the best reflexes doesn't make US weak. You think that YOU'RE the only one who can get something done - that you're the best one dragging along this team. Well let me tell you - we aren't damsels in distress - if it weren't for US Meizu and Gozu would've destroyed you," Hinata replied angrily.

Naruto stayed quiet while he was trying to assess Hinata's accusations. Was it true? Was he really acting like he was the only one who could do something?

"Its been like this ever since we all defeated Kakashi-sensei. It happened on our first mission and it happened every other one after that. You think that YOU have to do all the work because this is YOUR team. You think that we are just members who were lucky to be placed on a team with you. Me amd Shikamaru are probably BETTER than you by yourself. And even right now - you have too much of an ego - too much pride - to say sorry because you're the fourth hokage's son, Kakashi-sensei's favourite and the pride of Konoha."

Naruto stayed quiet - he turned the other way. if Hinata thought that both of thdm could be better than him - then he was going to prove her wrong. Then she'd come running to him begging for forgiveness.

Kakashi felt like slapping his forehead. Was this how his class had felt about him. Rin, Obito, Anko, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, Genma etc. Had he been the main hero while the rest were just plain old backups? plain old sacrifices?

He quickly shut down his thought processes as he remembered some of his final events with Obito. He had come to believe that he was the prodigy of his year - that they were lucky to be in his grade - the copy nin Kakashi. One of the early fifth hokage candidates.

"We're here Tazuna-san," the boat rower called out as they reached the land. Kakashi body flickered out of the boat- not to show off but to show his wonderful disciples the practical use of the technique.

Slowly the group made their way towards Tazuna's home. Before they were 'interrupted'. "Zabuza of the bloody mist," Kakashi exclaimed as he brought his kunai closer to his body. His title didn't matter - as long as Kakashi's opponent was alone and they had no kekkei genkai - Kakashi could beat them easily.

But for now, Kakashi wanted to toy with Zabuza - to see if he was worthy of his title - and mostly to see if his genin team could actually do anything against the jonin. However it was Kakaahi's curiosity that got him trapped in Zabuza's water prison jutsu. He didn't blame his team - but they hadn't done anything either - their teamwork was off.

"What are you doing Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru. Run away with Tazuna - the battle ended the second I was caught," Kakashi yelled at his team - there was no way he would let them die.

"We can't simply run away. He is a jonin and after drowning you he can easily catch up to us. If we assume all the possibilities - the best chance we have is to try and free you," Shikamaru replied. He was as calm as ever - while Hinata and Naruto were still a little startled from Zabuza's bloodlust.

Maybe he was wrong, maybe Shikamaru was the strongest in terms of practical application. He had kept a level head while in the presence of an opposing jonin - his skill was one to be admired.

"Tazuna-san. I hope its okay with you. We simply can't abandon our sensei," Hinata informed Tazuna softly. Her voice had the ability to persuade anyone.

The words of the drunk man surprised everyone "Don't worry about me. Do what you have to do - after all I'm the one who got you into this mess." The man stood his ground firmly - knowing full-well that he was the weakest among the people who were present.

"Alright. Naruto combination attack - 5," Shikamaru yelled at the blonde boy. Even though the Nara was still a little frustrated with the blonde, he couldn't do this without Naruto.

Thankfully Naruto bothered to rack through his brains to try and find a meaning for Shikamaru's words. When he finally understood, he signalled to Hinata and faced the water-clone.

"You see Zabuza - or whatever your name is. You may have opposed yourself with possibly the worst bunch of genin you could've ever battled. No other genin has a wider range of jutsu than Naruto," Shikamaru narrated while Naruto jumped all over the place doing frontflips and kicks.

Zabuza thought that the kid was just doing a silly-dance but when Naruto's delayed move finally worked Zabuza understood that these people were serious.

Naruto was throwing long-range moderately weak fire techniques at the water-clone. His technique gave Naruto the ability to turn a large portion of his chakra into a flame - and then direct the flame to its target. It was one of the most basic fire jutsu - which was why it was so chakra-exhaustive.

But Naruto was used to it and that was why he was able to use it to such an extent. Zabuza's clones actually had to jump and swerve to avoid Naruto's attacks.

However what Zabuza couldn't dodge - was Hinata's exploding kunai - that were casually being thrown in a way to to hide within the fireballs.

"Another reason for why we're the worst opponents for you right now - is the fact that Hinata has picture perfect vision and can distinguish between your every move - even though she hasn't awakened the byakugan," Shimamaru continued to give exposition while he added some od his own kunai to the mix.

Finally, when one of Naruto's or Hinata's attacks hit did the water-clone actually draw a kunai to attack. The attack - being circulated on fire did very little damage to the clone- even smaller damage than it would've normally done. So it really didn't hinder the clone that much.

So the clone decided to keep having a little fun- to keep trying to test the abilities of the genin. "You kids are stupid. You've been trained in peace and thats why you don't have what it takes to become a TRUE ninja. You fools don't even know that fire attacks are weak against water," Zabuza taunted the children.

To show the children how outmatched they were, he let a few of their attacks hit him - most of them did no damage whatsoever.

However then something changed, instead of a fire attack hitting him - a more powerful wind one hit him. Unlike the previous attempts of hurting the water-clone, the wind jutsu actually hurt much like a sting.

"It seems the blonde brat is actually capable of something," the real Zabuza yelled out from behind the water-clone. Hinata kept attacking using her rapid kunai clone technique.

However the wind jutsu had changed the water-clone's mind. The clone was ready to attack and first he was going to kill the annoying blonde-brat. Hinata readied herself to initiate the second part of combination attack-5.

As the clone got closer and closer to Naruto, the latter felt the hardships of a real battle. He thought that he had the upper-hand but what if he didn't, what if the jonin was smarter than him. Then he would obviously die. In a real battle - you are putting your entire life on the line, no matter if the opponent is an academy student or a kage.

However Naruto wasn't the type of guy who would be discouraged by the symbol of death. In fact, he was encouraged by it - if he was going to go out he was going to go out giving it his all and trying to execute his plan perfectly. So Naruto kept coming at the clone using his jutsu - as hard as he could.

"Why are you so foolish? Why do you try so hard? A real ninja would fear for the life he was worked so hard for. A real ninja would see that he is outmatched and run to fight another day," the assasin of the mist called out.

Naruto, while trying to swerve out of the sword's path was the one who answered "A real ninja doesn't hold back. A real ninja continues to fight until the very end," Naruto yelled out - copying his mom's statement - word to word.

"Then you are a fool," the clone spoke as he brought his sword to Naruto. Such a waste of life. Naruto used one last D-rank wind technique before he left his fate in the hands of Shikamaru's plan.

If the sword stopped - then they had one. But if it didn't it was the end for them. Either way this move was the deciding kove for the battle. Hinata stared at the sword come closer and closer to Naruto.

Then the cleaver came to a halt. "Kage Mane jutsu - success," Shikamaru yelled out from behind Naruto. Carefully Kakashi analysed the true motive behind the combination attack.

Naruto and Hinata were just a distraction, to pull away the opponent's attention from Shikamaru - the key to the plan. Naruto and Hinata continued to use a variety of D-rank jutsu that were supposed to provoke the enemy.

The real magic was going on with Shikamaru's kunai. Behind each kunai was a thin piece of wire that cast a tiny shadow connecting to Shikamaru's. Because of Shikamaru's current skill with the technique - a shadow that tiny wouldn't have given Shikamaru the ability to launch the kage man jutsu.

So instead Shikamaru barrage kunai at the enemy, whos paths interlocked with eachother giving Shikamaru much more control over the shadows. In this specific formation, Shikamaru had sent most of his kunai towards Naruto's direction so he could do part 2 of the attack.

Part - 2 commenced after Shikamaru had sent enough kunai over the battlefield for him to use the kage mane - at a reasonable range. Part - 2 detailed Naruto using a stronger, more concentrated attack so he could lure the enemy closer to Shikamaru. Finally, when the enemy was close enough, Shikamaru would use the kage mane jutsu.

The attack had depended on 2 things. 1. there had to be only one opponent 2. the opponent had to be weak enough so Naruto and Hinata could sufficiently distract him for a long period of time without being harmed. The team had taken a risk when they started the combination attack.

Shikamaru had relied upon Zabuza's arrogance to help them out. Obviously Zabuza could've taken out all three of them under a minute but Shikamaru had anticipated the jonin's tendency to 'play with his food.'

All-in-all Kakashi was impressed with the skills the team had shown during the enduring attack. He was most impressed with Shikamaru's ability to account for different attributes of his enemies and the fact that Shikamaru had quickly selected an attack from the ones that the team had practised.

However the combination-attack wasn't finished. As surprised as Zabuza was - he was also confident that a team of genin couldn't take him down.

"It is true that you have managed to stop me for a limited amount of time but a genin Nara can't hold me for longer than 30-seconds. And you all know that you have no technique that is powerful enough to kill me or knock me out. You can try to attack me physically with a weapon- like a kunai - but as I am a water-clone it will just slip right through me," the clone said calmly while he was being restrained.

"Yes that brings me to the final reason for why we were the worst genin opponents for you. Naruto - here has an amazing affinity to the elements. Do you know what that means? Perhaps its best to show you," Shikamaru continued to give exposition as all of them looked over to Naruto - who had been performing seals for the past minute.

"10 seconds," Shikamaru thought in his head "hurry up Naruto." A clearly visible sweat drop slid down the side of Shikamaru's face as the water-clone began to show movement. Shikamaru was struggling to hold him.

Then Kakashi smiled as Naruto performed his move. "Earth style - insignia bind," Naruto yelled out as he put slammed his hands against the floor.

"Impossible, I was impressed that the brat could use two elements. But... but three - even I can't use THREE elements. How?" the clone asked while earth started to form out of the ground.

"We didn't need to knock you out. We merely needed to subdue you. And we have succeeded. In case you didn't know - Naruto is from the Uzumaki clan - which means that his chakra is special and that he has a natural amazing affinty to all 5 of the elements," Shikamaru finished his explanation.

Shikamaru's explanation gave Kakashi some more time to analze the combination attack and its third and final part. The main use of combination attack-5 was to subdue the enemy - not hurt him.

The kage mane jutsu was also just a setup for Naruto to use his strongest earth-style move - the insignia bind. The insignia bind required 1. the user to create a lot of handseals which took a lot of time and 2. for the opponent to be completely still so the rock/earth could form around him. it was an imprisonment technique.

Obviosuly, however, even though it was Naruto's strongest imprisonment technique - it wouldn't be enough to hold a jonin down. However this jonin firstly had a strong water affinity and he was also a water clone and Earth was super effective against water. Which meant that the technique could serve its purpose - to hold the clone down for about 5 minutes.

5 minutes wasn't a lot of time - considering the effort all three of them had put in to successfully achieve the technique - but it was all that they needed to free Kakashi. And now it was Hinata's turn to shine.

Zabuza tried defending himself against the expertise of one of the more powerful taijutsu genin - but It was hard to fight while remaining stationary with only one hand.

Finally the inevitable happened as Hinata punched Zabuza with a chakra enhanced fist. It didn't really harm the legendary assasin but it caused him to lose focus and release his water prison jutsu - which was just what they were aiming for.

"These genin children... are amazing," a startled Tazuna mumbled to himself "they will grow up to become great ninja."

Zabuza, however, didn't have time to praise the genin as now he was up against the copy nin - Hatake Kakashi. And this time the ninja wasn't going to hold back.

Later.

Naruto looked at the back of the ninja of the mist village. He was surprised that he had sufficient strength to carry the dead Zabuza. However Naruto had his own problems - as Kakashi-sensei collapsed. Together him, Tazuna, Hinata and Shikamaru ran to Kakashi to help him.

At Tazuna's house


	5. Chapter 5

(Continued from last chapter - fanfic was being annoying and not letting me save so much on one document)

At Tazuna's house

Kakashi sensed that he was in a small room. He noted this because the air was warm and it circulated the around him in a brisk motion. An ordinary citizen would never had noticed this - but this was one of the quirks of being a ninja. He enjoyed his peace with his eyes closed.

Kakashi felt a fly on his face. He never let anything touch his face. In fact he hadn't come into physical contact with anyone in the past few months. The sensation of something else touching his face was amazing. He realised how much he had distanced himself from the world - including Minato-sensei.

But... but these children would change that. Kakashi was going to put his faith and hard work into his disciples.

Slowly - the fly began to fly away from his forehead - as it noticed that the jonin had woken up. Kakashi examined the fly. He didn't need the sharingan to see that the fly was weak and in poor health.

Then he remembered hia sharingan and immediately brought his hand to his left eye. There was a warm towel covering it. A warm towel meant that he was okay - and that he was in a friend's house. He slowly remembered everything that had happened - including his fight with Zabuza.

He heard a few voices coming from the other side of the small door. The jonin realised that it hurt getting up after using so much of his chakra. He took a moment to empathize his opponents as he strained his muscles to get up. The loud voices got louder and louder every inch he moved towards the door.

He slowly opened the door. The more he opened the more a yellow light seeped in. Finally when his small room was filled with yellow lighr - did his eye adjust to the view. With his eye he saw his genin team - along with Tazuna sitting next to a strange woman with a strange child.

"Kakashi sensei," the velvet voice of Hinata's reached him first "you're finally awake."

The rest of seated people replied a moment later - praising his fight and telling him that he deserved the title of the Copy nin.

Hinata, however, was the only one to get up from her seat and help him across the the table. It was like the gril could sense pain in a being - and she would do anything to ease the pain of the people she loved.

"It seems like you haven't fully recovered," Tazuna said in his deeper voice "no worries we have a few crutches lying around the place." As he spoke the woman got up from her seat. She seemed nice enough as she brought him a pair of crutches.

"Oooh - it seems that I am yet to introduce you to my family. Well this woman is my daughter - Tsunami and the child is her son - Inari," Tazuna said in a lighter tone.

After exchanging formalities Kakashi summoned his team outside. After coming face-to-face with a jonin - Kakashi had decided that it was time to fast forward their training. First he would have made them perfect their basic leaf taijutsu - but it was clear that they didn't have time for that.

"Why are we here at this time of the night," Shikamaru said lazily "this is so troublesome." He had both his hands in his pockets and his head down.

"C'mon Shikamaru. This is the best - we get to TRAIN. I bet Kakashi-sensei has some really strong move planned for us to learn. I bet its that blue ball that dad always uses," Naruto enthusiastically explained to the Nara.

It seemed that the lethargic side of Shikamaru had pulled the idiotic side out of Naruto. He was so different from when Kakaahi had observed him under the sandaime's orders. He had been so much... cooler.

He looked over to Hinata - who wasn't saying anything. It was obvious that she was still upset with Naruto thinking that he was the main character.

As Kakashi explained their task he saw Naruto's enthusiasm turn into boredom. "Kakashi sensei... this is just the same sort of boring training dad and mom give me. I thought that you would be a lot cooler."

Kakashi noticed Hinata about to start - and he decided that it was best for the team's rivalry to push them on. Instead of him forcefully scolding them.

When he saw Hinata run up the tree - he was amazed. She had never done this type of training before and yet she had already gone about halfway up the tree. Naruto, however, didn't follow his teamate and he just stood there grinning.

Shikamaru, surprisingly was the next to try and he got even further up the tree than Hinata had. Kakashi decoded that he had hit a goldmine when he got this team.

Hinata tried again - getting up even further than Shikamaru had. Their rate of improvement was amazing. Kakashi decided that it was Naruto's turn and gave Naruto the temptation of a new type of training if he made it up further than Hinata.

Hinata's and Shikamaru's jaw dropped as Naruto made it up all the way to the tip of the tree. Kakashi, wasn't surprised however, as Naruto had pretty much spent everyday training. Chakra-control was something Minato would have his child have an above-average grasp on. However Kakashi was determined to make that above average grasp - perfect.

"Kakashi-sensei, Kakashi-sensei I did it. What move are you going to teach me now," Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. This enfuriated Hinata even more.

"I didn't promise you a new move," Kakashi said slyly "I promised you new training." Kakashi stopped talking and decided to go stand under a branch.

"You're going to hang upside down on that branch," he said pointing above him "until Shikamaru and Hinata get to the point you got up to."

Naruto's brain exploded. Was Kakashi-sensei crazy. Naruto could barely hang upside down for a minute let alone the whole night.

"Naruto, you can't accomplish anything by yourself. You will always need to work as a team. If there is one thing I have leartn during my life - it is that," Kakashi somberly said before leaving a clone to supervise the genin.

As he made his way back to the house- he sensed that something was out of place. He couldn't put his finger on what had changed - the grass was the same, the air was still moist, the wind was going in its respective pattern etc.

He heard a couple of flies behind him. They were probably waiting to scavenge for leftovers on Kakashi's skin. Just like the earlier fly had done.

Meanwhile in the training grounds of Konoha

"Kage bunshin no jutsu," Sasuke yelled at the top of his lungs. A second Sasuke appeared right next to the original in a puff of smoke. Ino looked like she was about to go blind - and she would've if she hadn't been competing against her rival.

"Kage bunshin?" Asuma said as he leaned against a tree "don't you think thats a little advanced for a genin. Even if he is a prodigy - I would've waited until he was atleast a chunin."

Kurenai Yuhei stood right next to the Sarutobi. "I didn't teach him the move. Besides I told him not to use it since its just a hassle because he has such little chakra at the moment. Thats what we're doing in training - trying to expand our chakra reserves."

"I know. The sandaime suggested us to do the same thing. Besides if you didn't teach him - who did? I know that kage bunshin isn't exactly Fugaku's style," Asuma replied gently.

"It was Lord Yondaime's son - Uzumaki Naruto. I envy Kakashi so much - he gets to start the fancy techniques right away with his prized pupil," Kurenai answered the man. She enjoyed being with him.

"Naruto huh? I heard he is a prodigy beyond even Sasuke - with natural chakra reserves that rival Kushina's. And I don't think its Kakashi's style to play favoyrites - hes probably doing training like the rest of us. In fact I bet he wishes that he was in Konoha - so he could also have a team match-off," Asuma said before quitening down.

Sasuke had used his shadow clone as a diversion and he was just about to destroy Chouji with a chakra enhanced chop. The idea had besn Kurenai's - to have their teams fight off against eachother in preparation for the chunin exams.

Asuma had to say - Lord sandaime had really evenly matched the teams. Although he wasn't sure about Kakashi's team. He had wanted Shikamaru Nara in his team and he knew for a fact that Kurenai had a soft spot of the hyuga girl - especially since her mother had taught Kurenai.

"Hey, you know if Kakashi is entering his team into the chunin exams," the jonin man asked the fiery lady - posing like a gentleman. He really enjoyed being with her

"Well I don't know if he is but he definitely should be," Kurenai answered thinking about Hinata. Although she repented not having the girl in her team - she was still happy with her current team - which in her eyes was stronger than Asuma's.

It was a whole different story for Asuma though.

The next morning in the Land of the waves.

Water droplets fell to the ground - encouraging Hinata to give up. The morning dew made her shiver and the sun made her tired but she wasn't going to let Naruto beat her. He had stood under the branch for a total of 3 hours straight yesterday - until she had gotten up to the top of the tree.

At that point Naruto had decided that it was enough and had told his teammates to come back with him. But they had 'insisted' on standing upside down on the branches. So because he was a good person he had decided to fall asleep underneath the shade of the trees.

Both Hinata and Shikamaru had stayed up the whole night - trying to stand upside down for 3 hours straight but they kept falling after every 30 minutes or so. However this was their longest time - Hinata and Shikamaru had both been standing upside down for 2 hours straight - they only had 1 more hour to go until touchdown.

Shikamaru got his energy from concentrating on protecting his friends by becoming stronger. Where as Hinata got her energy from thinking angry thoughts about the Show-off Naruto and their lazy sensei.

The clone Kakashi had created had burst halfway through the night - at which point Hinata thought he was lazy. But in actual fact - Kakashi had manually dispelled the clone because from that point onwards - he had been observing them from a distance. He wanted to see how strong their will was.

And it was pretty strong from the looks of it.

The morning dew eventually mixed with the air and the sun shed light that made the whole forest glimmer. Finally, Kakashi thought it was time to intervene with the training.

As they reached the 2 and a half hour mark - their chakra stores literally became empty and that was the point at which Kakashi revealed himself.

Hinata was too tired to listen to what the jonin was saying. It was something along the lines that he was impressed but you shouldn't overexert your body - especially on missions. As she began to lose her ability to comprehend she fell from the branch and into Kakashi's arms. She felt like the safest girl in the world.

Shikamaru, however continued for another 5 minutes before coming down - making excuses about it being too troublesome.

In Konoha

Shikaku was not a man who liked getting himself into trouble. He was the type of man who followed the rules to the book. It was the type of book though - that made him who he was today.

And today - he was late. He didn't have time to make breakfast. He didn't have time to do the laundry. He didn't even have time to clean the house. However - what he did have time for was listen to his wife hammer him about all of those things.

And now he was even later.

"Shukaku, you're late," the blonde hokage said from his seat. An unfamiliar man stood right next to Minato's desk. Shukaku knew that Minato was talking in 'that' formal tone because of the man - otherwise Minato wouldn't have been so 'rough'

The man had a mini blue mowhawk - with an eye patch covering one eye. He seemed to be quite experienced as a ninja - judging from his 'passive' stance. He also seemed to be angered easily.

"This is Ao of the hidden mist," Minato began. He had his fingers clasped together in a lazy position. However, Shukaku had known Minsto for a very long time and he had leartn that Minato was always alert. If need be - Minato could pop into one of his several hideouts and come back with a barrage of weapons. If need be.

"As you know - the chunin exams are coming up soon. And we have considerably better relationships with the other 4 great nations. So we have declared the upcoming chunin exams to be the first ever world-ranking exams - as all of 5 great nations will be participating," Minato continued.

Shukaku knew that this was a pretty serious thing. If these chunin exams went wrong - the first ever great shinobi alliance could turn and put Konoha in a bad position - especially since it was hosting the exams.

"Each of the great villages have sent across some ambassadors to check the village. To do the usual thing - check if its safe, do the legal paperwork, arrange the best accomodation etc. I need a person to host these ambassadors - and thats where you come in. I would like you to be the representative from Konoha and the host - and deal with the preparation of the upcoming chunin exams."

Shukaku knew that this was a pretty serious thing - if Minato was assigning him to it. Shukaku wasn't one to brag - but he was also a hokage candidate and one of the smartest in the village. Besides usually one of the council members would usually do the things like this - but it was clear that minato wanted a man on the inside doing this.

It was also clear that Minato wanted to him to assess the ambassadors - and try to find out their motives. He didn't say it directly but he didn't need to - Shukaku always observed the people he worked with - job or not.

"Ao here is the first ambassador to arrive. He is the ambassador of the mist amd will be living with you. This is so that you guys can get the most out of what little time you have," Minato finished referencing to time. Shukaku took that into account - it was clear that he wanted the arrangements to be worked out fast.

Shukaku however couldn't help but think to celebrate. The first world competition was about to commence - and it was commencing in Konoha.

Somwhere in a dark forest.

Haku looked over the man they called Zabuza. He was intrigued. The genin trio - had been successful in harming his master. And the jonin - Kakashi - had been successful in beating him.

However Kakashi had only won because of his kekkei genkei. But every bloodline limit had a weakness - and the sharingan had two. 1. it drained mass amounts of chakra from a user, especially someone not from the Uchiha and 2. it could not copy the moves of a kekkei genkei.

And Haku had his own Kekkei genkei. It was wierd how the shinobi system worked. Haku - was probably chunin level and he could take Kakashi out of play with one move. Kakashi, however, could take out the jonin - Zabuza - who had taught Haku how to become a ninja.

It didn't really matter how they did it. Haku was going to get his revenge on the Konoha shinobi and there was nothing they could do to stop them. However he needed to further test their skills - which was why there was a knock on the door.

A man named Takami walked in. The man was formely of the wiped out - Pirate-Corps. They had once been the military of the Land of the Waves - before they began harrasing the civillians themselves. Now none but one remained - and this one was probably the most bloodthirsty of them all.

Takami's friends and family had all been in the Pirate-Corps. And the Pirate'corps had been wiped out by Uzumaki Kushins, hokage candidate from Konoha. Now call it a coincidence or not - but after undergoing some research Haku had found out a very important piece of information.

The blonde boy - was the son of Uzumaki Kushina - who was coincidentally exactly the person Haku wanted to test.

"You know what you have to do," Haku said from behind his secretive mask. He handed Takami a scroll before leaving him with one last piece of advice "If you get a chance to kill the boy. I'll hold nothing against you for doing so."

End of Chapter.

I had planned to fit in a lot of stuff in this particular chapterm But I didn't get to fit it all in. Thats why the tone of the chapter is so fast, though.

The land of the waves arc's purpose is just to put the team's skills into contect with canon. So - I will (hopefully) be finishhing it next chapter - because I dont want to expand on it too much.

What I really want to get into is the chunin exams - because thats where we'll see how much the world really has changed while Minato was hokage. And Ill be teaching Naruto a very special and dear technique.

Anyway - pairings are pretty much open - so if you have any preferences - stick them in a review.

That's it for now - other than please review. I love getting feedback (good or bad) so I can improve my writing


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